One of the main concerns that I personally had when the Hashira training Arc was announced was it's place in the Narrative of the Manga, it is the Calm before the storm, the period of rest and preparation before the storm that is the Infinity Castle Arc.
There is a risk that this Arc of the Anime will simply be two and a half months of Foreshadowing for the upcoming season, and in this day and age, where everything is in a battle for a viewers time, it could really become stale very soon.
There is indeed a lot of Anime only content in this Arc, as they animate an entire battle between Tanjiro and Uzui.
Now, in the previous Article, I had wrongly predicted that this episode will Focus on Shinobu and her backstory, but me being the Idiot I am forgot to see the Taisho Era secret at the End of the episode, if I had, I would have know the name of this episode Before hand, and would have known it was about Tanjiro Joining the Training.
Now, there is nothing inherently wrong with Anime only content, some of it is even endearing like the other trainees asking Tanjiro what it is like to fight an upper moon, Or us getting some insight into how Tengen has been post leaving the Demon Slayers.
He does still want to fight, he just made this choice because of having lost his arm and because of his three wives
The only issue here is, it is essentially Taking the story that already is there and stretching it out.
Now, I'm not saying its Stretching it thin, Far from it, the Arc is rushed if anything in the Manga, as I have been saying, but the thing is, there is, more content in the side Manga they could have used to gain back some of the epic feel that the other Arcs are sure to have, Regardless of whether they have been released or are to be released.
They go this route, this Arc will be remembered as: "the boring one"
And that is too bad because this Arc is very important in the Grand scheme, of things, this Arc is where we get a set up for Zenitsu's Infinity Castle battle against Kaigaku, his senior who became a Demon leading to his and Zenitsu's master committing Seppuku.
Don't know what that is? Google it, fair warning, it's not pretty.
And this is the only moment where Hashira such as Gyomei get any development save the Infinity Arc.
And we are getting some of that here, As there is a scene where Sanemi and Obanai Discuss what they saw in the first episode and then proceed to Duel each other.
Appart from this we get a hint at the new upper moon four who According to the Manga is Nakime, the Biwa player that has appeared in pretty much every other Arc, controlling the Infinity Castle where the moons have their meeting.
The little eyes that she can Detach from herself and uses to spy on other people, are seen following two younger Demon Slayers who were fooling around wishing the Demons went away, giving me flash backs to me as a Student.
And the rest the remains is Tanjiro still convincing Giyu to join, even though he Technically already has agreed but is probably Humoring Tanjiro as he clearly Telegraphs when he will be done even though he clearly can keep going.
It could also be because Giyu doesn't trust himself and wants a failsafe like this so he doesn't quit midway if he goes into his self pity zone again.
Now the end implies that next Tanjiro will train under Tokito next and the next episode is to bring smile to one's face, which makes me think that Mitsuri will have some presence, but I will have to see, because truly, we don't know what will happen this arc only the Narrative beats, because there is bound to be more Anime only content or content out of the mainline Manga to justify a full season.